update on Femoral nerve damage post

[hipdiver]

I'm now 6 months post op - I originally posted about femoral nerve damage after my BHR in the post below. Fortunately, damaged nerves do heal. I would guess that my sense of feeling in the quads is now about 60-70% vs. 10% post op. My strength has gone from not being able to lift my lower leg in a seated position to doing sets of 15 reps with 25 pounds on a quad extention machine. This is compared to my other leg at about 15 reps with 50 lbs. Assuming recovery continues at this rate - I will be back to normal within a year. In summation, if you have nerve damage during surgery, don't panic - it will come back! 

[obxpelican]

While nerve damage is not all that uncommon, many times your sensation does come back, sometimes it's a year or better. 

Glad you are doing well.


Chuck

[Dayton96]

Would you mind telling us what surgical approach was used (posterior vs. anterior)?

[hipdiver]

The posterior approach was used - this is supposed to be safer for not damaging nerves. The physician said that because of the unusually large size of my femoral head that he had to use more force with forceps than usual during the procedure and must have stretched the femoral nerve. This is a prime example of a case where when reading blogs like this that you understand that every individual is different and you can't totally rely on other people's experience to be like your own.

[Debbie]

I was numb from my groin to several inches below my knee from the inside of my thigh about 6-8 inches across to the top of my thigh after surgery.  No one in the hospital had ever seen this reaction to this surgery before and they are still not exactly sure what caused it.  Luckily, it has been almost 15 months since my surgery, and the numbness is almost gone.  There is still a circle about three or four inches in diameter that is a little numb, but the feeling is still improving. 
Who was your doctor?

[ptaylor]

hi
i had a bhr on 1st october and noted a numb leg much as you have described which prevents the quad muscle from having the strength to lift my lower leg when seated. the physio hadnt seen it before and insisted i saw the surgeon before leaving hospital. he said the femoral nerve was damaged as part of the process of creating the gap to get at the hip. he said that the numbness could go within 6 weeks but then mentioned 6-9 months. your comments on the time for recovery are of interest and knowing im not the only one this has happened to is a great relief...especially as the physio started asking questions like who was your anaesthetist!! is there a particular exercise which seemed to help?
phil taylor